Genesis 27:41
And Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing wherewith his father blessed him: and Esau said in his heart, The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then will I slay my brother Jacob. And Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing wherewith his father blessed him: and Esau said in his heart, The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then will I slay my brother Jacob.
Esau hated Jacob because Jacob had received their father Isaac's blessing that had been intended for Esau. In his heart he secretly resolved to kill his brother Jacob after their father died, when the days of mourning for his father were at hand. Jacob had obtained that blessing by deception, and that deceit brought him the harvest of his brother's hatred and threat of death, leaving him facing danger and remorse.
Esau's wrath and threat to kill Jacob forced Jacob to flee his father's home for his life as a fugitive. He left carrying Isaac's renewed covenant blessing while fearing that his angry brother would find him. The flight separated Jacob from Rebekah, and she never saw him again. Isaac lived many years afterward and became convinced from the brothers' conduct that the blessing rightly belonged to Jacob.
Years later, news that Esau was approaching with a band of warriors filled Jacob with fear of his brother's revenge. Jacob's peril then and his prayer for deliverance represent the experience of God's people in the time of trouble. That same deceptive spirit is repeated in partiality and hypocrisy, in handling men as machinery, binding their freedom, and turning them from their rights by selfishness and covetousness. All such secret grasping lies open before God, who will in no case justify or excuse it by deceptive reasoning, and the time has come to examine Christ's teachings given to ancient Israel against it.